FEEL FREE TO ENROLL YOUR LEARNER DURING ANY POINT IN THE WEEK!
The lessons do not build on each other and we will focus solely on the material for the given week so as to not overwhelm learners. 

**This class is also ELA and ESL friendly! Please send an inquiry if you have a second language learner and you'd like more information.


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In this ongoing course, learners will use NearPod to practice beginner level reading, phonics, and spelling by doing word puzzles. Each lesson will focus on several consonants and one long vowel sound. We will work on learning and remembering the phonics rules for each vowel and how to tell when the vowel is long in a word or not. 

Each class will begin by learning and reviewing the five vowels (a e i o u) and the long sounds they make as well as the concept of consonants. We will then learn about syllables and how to count them out. Syllables can be very useful hints when it comes to decoding words and letter pairs and knowing how to separate the syllables will make independent reading that much easier for your learner.

Research tells us that learning to read is not a natural process, but instead that written language is a code. Certain letter combinations represent certain sounds and young learners must decode the sounds and piece them all together to get an end result, which is what this class is about - creating and decoding that puzzle. 

Shields Scholars teachers teach something called "synthetic phonics". Synthetic phonics is when words are broken down to the smallest units of sound, called phonemes, then blended together to sound out the word correctly with no additional sounds or guessing. An example of using synthetic phonics versus traditional or analytic phonics, would be learning the letters /Mm/, /Nn/, or /Ll/. Traditionally, children (me) learned that the /Mm/ sound said, 'muh, muh, muh' and the /Ll/ sound said, 'la, la, la'. This makes decoding and blending words much more difficult because adding the 'uh' sounds at the end also adds an unnecessary vowel and sometimes extra syllable. If we taught beginning readers to sound out the word 'milk', for instance, it would be broken down as 'muh-i-la-k'. 'Muhilak' does not sound the same as 'milk'. I take great care to teach each unit of sound correctly and the same every time we learn it. I explain and correct my students when they 'muh muh muh' and why it is incorrect. I teach that /Mm/ says 'mmmm'. 


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The lessons will use NearPod, which is an additional resource accessible from smartphones and tablets as well as browsers. NearPod has interactive features and games for your learner to participate in. The NearPod link for that week's lesson will be available in the classroom announcements page within the hour prior to the class start time. NearPod is necessary for learners to participate!

**You do NOT have to create a NearPod account to join the lesson. The link or code from me is all you need.

There will be 10 different lessons - each vowel will be presented twice using different words and examples.


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SYLLABUS: 


February 4 - 10: 
Long /u/ sound and letter combinations (L10)

February 11 - 17: 
Long /a/ sound and letter combinations (L1)

February 18 - 24: 
Long /e/ sound and letter combinations (L2)

February 25 - March 2: 
Long /i/ sound and letter combinations (L3)

March 3 - 9
Long /o/ sound and letter combinations (L4)

March 10 - 16: 
Long /u/ sound and letter combinations (L5)

March 17 - 23: 
Long /a/ sound and letter combinations (L6)

March 24 - 30: 
Long /e/ sound and letter combinations (L7)

March 31 - April 6: 
Long /i/ sound and letter combinations (L8)

April 7 - 13: 
Long /o/ sound and letter combinations (L9)


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POLICIES

REFUNDS:
All Ongoing classes have a standard refund policy: "Cancel subscription at any point, no refund for past subscriptions. Payments can be refunded within 24 hours of purchase."

Refunds will not be issued for any case of a student no-show in which the student misses class. Our schedule holds a dedicated spot for your child each week. In the event that your child misses class, your payment is a reservation of that time that cannot otherwise be utilized by, scheduled for, or transferred to another student. Additionally; no refunds or makeup classes will be issued for class time lost due to students/parents being unprepared for class. Please read the full class description before enrolling to ensure you can be fully prepared come class start time. Upon enrollment, please be sure to turn on email notifications for messages and classroom post updates sent by your learner's teacher.

TRANSFERS:
Transfer requests will be accepted if the request is sent no less than 24 hours prior to the class start time and only for ongoing courses. If you have something come up and cannot make your section time, please send me a transfer request as soon as possible for another time during that same week. In the event of a one-time transfer and you would like your child moved back to their original section day/time, you need to send another transfer request or your child will stay in the current section. 

There will be no transfers for student no shows under any circumstances.

ABSENCES & STUDENT NO-SHOWS:
A student no-show is defined as a student absence with no prior arrangements made with the teacher.
There will be no refunds or transfers for student no-shows under any circumstances. 

In cases of no-shows for private classes or classes that happen to only have one learner, it is Outschool's policy that the class is automatically cancelled if no student shows up after 10 minutes have elapsed and you forfeit your payment for that class. If you have a private class, ALWAYS reach out before class starts if there is a reason you cannot make it.

Absentees are entitled to the class recorded as well as a student-paced NearPod lesson that parents can navigate with their student while watching the recording. Student-paced lessons are usually not put out publicly, so please message your teacher for access!

MAKEUP CLASSES:
Makeup classes are not offered at this time for group classes. Please message your teacher if you require a makeup time for a private class. We will reschedule a maximum of 3 times. All makeup requests need to be scheduled within 24 hours of the original class cancelation and cancelations need to be communicated no less than 24 hours before the originally scheduled lesson. 

OUTSCHOOL POLICIES:
Only the enrolled student is admitted into the classroom and allowed to be on screen and participating in the class. Students may share a screen if and only if they are both enrolled into the class and in that same section. Friends, cousins, parents, siblings, etc. are not permitted to be on screen at all.

When entering your Zoom meeting, please make sure that your screen name matches your learner's name on the roster OR the enrolling parent's name on their profile. Any other names will not be admitted into the classroom due to safety and privacy concerns. If we as teachers cannot verify who is entering, it is against Outschool's policy to admit them.

Every student must turn on their video for teachers to verify that there is, in fact, a child in the classroom due to privacy and safety concerns. If you prefer your child not be on camera, you need to contact Outschool prior to the class to be "verified" beforehand. Refusing to turn on your camera for teachers to verify a child will result in removal from the Zoom meeting immediately.

Only one Zoom account will be admitted into the classroom per student. All Zoom meetings are recorded. Parents and/or guardians are not authorized to watch the class from a second device, but all class recordings are available in the classroom page for your viewing after the class has concluded. Some recordings may be deleted if something inappropriate happens during the lesson i.e. nudity or offensive behavior.

Thank you for your understanding!